As I said, when you find your little paradise spot, when you meet great people, when things are just clicking – you gotta make the most of it. We decided to make the most of it and to delay our trip to the coast. Not by much. By a few days. It was worth it.

The little white object around the middle of the frame there is our car and camper. You can see that we were very close to a river. Over the hill was another river. Both were clean enough to bathe in and even to take water from for doing the dishes.

Every day Mia would play by the river. She’d build sandcastles and just play out all kinds of different scenarios. We’re keeping her away from computer games and without internet connection she couldn’t watch her cartoons. She didn’t seem to mind. Just a healthy, happy child going to bed early each evening.

Our short friendship with Maxi, the woman living in the village above the place we were staying at was growing. One evening she invited us for a hike to one of her favorite places. Those rock formations we were seeing from below were sheltering a meadow. A calm place to relax, reflect, and spend time with loved ones. In fact, her family would come to this palce first thing on every visit to the ancestral land.

The sun was setting, the whole situation looked so idyllic. We had some deep conversations with Maxi. She shared just how much she loved being back here. I told her that I thought she was a rare story. Someone who had left the countryside for the capital, made it there and then came back.

Maxi didn’t have wealthy parents. While they supported her choice to try her luck in Lima, they couldn’t support her financially. As a result, it was too hard for her to get a university education, but she worked and worked, and made sure that all three of her children did. I find that remarkable.

If you know Peru and much of South America, you know that this is what many rural people strive for, but more often than not, the story doesn’t have a happy ending. It’s hard to make it in Lima on your own. Maxi won the game of life with the cards she’d been dealt and that always warrants respect.

One of Maxi’s older brothers is out with the sheep every day. Since he’s a bit more advanced in age and has asthma, he was a little apprehensive to get to close to us, foreigners. But, we spoke. He told me he thought the world was going mad and that he was happy to be away from it all, not having to worry for his life all the time.

This is where Maxi’s brother stays for the night, a shelter made from stone and wood, much like his ancestors. The sheep generally graze on the grass at a higher altitude. When the dry season approaches, they come down and stick close to home.

The other brother living on the ancestral land takes care of the cows and the pigs. He was also really great with the slingshot, which he demonstrated. It’s used to move the cattle along “remotely” and in case a puma or robbers come. Speaking of pumas, he told me that he couldn’t count how many sheep the family lost to them over the years.

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“These animals don’t respect or fear humans. They can just come and grab your sheep, goats, pigs, even dogs from in front of you. If it’s dark and you’re alone, they might even go for you.” I could sense that he might have been dramatising things a little, but there was definitely truth to what he was saying, from everything that I’d heard about pumas before.

One of the sheep abandoned her 5 lamb and Maxi decided to “adopt” them. She’ll feed them cow’s milk until they’ll be strong enough.

Mia got a chance to feed some of the lamb too, who have quite some names. Maduro, like the president of Venezuela. Chocolate, Saint John and Blacky.

Maxi and her brother looking at a hill above their land. That’s where some of the cows go for the night. Her brother had caught some river trout in the morning and we were invited for one of the tastiest fish dishes I remember in recent memory. It probably wasn’t the fish itself, but the setting, the company and, the fact that we got pretty hungry by walking around all day.

We parked the car a fair distance away, below Maxi’s house. To get to it, there was a shallow part of a river to cross. By this stage, it was cold outside and the water was cold too. I picked up Mia and carried her over. I probably won’t be able to do this soon enough, when she’s a teenager. So, it was as much for my pleasure, to feel like a caring dad, as it was for her comfort.

Off to our cosy little home on wheels. We had been in the valley for around 4 days and still hadn’t even moved the car.

Finally, we did drive towards the stone forest, which was actually a few smaller stone forests, not just one. The formations were pretty spectacular, but just to our luck, it got cloudy and it looked like heavy rain was coming.

One of the stone formations looked like a castle. Mia declared that it was her castle, and she was the princess. She stayed there for a few minutes, sang and danced. I won’t get tired of saying how happy I am that my daughter is growing up this way, rather than staring into a computer screen of some sort.

We moved on to more stone formations, but ultimately, after establishing a bond with Maxi and having that human contact with members of her family, stones just weren’t as exciting. We considered staying around the stone forest to take photos at night but decided to pay Maxi another visit instead. This would be our last night.

Just as we drove back to our spot over some pretty treacherous road, it began to rain. It even hailed for a while.

We drove to Maxi’s house to avoid having to cross the cold river by foot again and then drove the car back to our spot for the night. Our last night in this absolutely magical place.

As was the case through all the nights we stayed, the sky was covered in stars. No sounds of the city. No worries. Only the excitement of an upcoming journey, with a little bit of sadness, because it’s always at least a little sad to leave new friends and special people.

In a couple of days, I’ll share the next part of our journey with you. Stay tuned!